Beluga LinerTrading

The Beluga Liner is Saud Kruger's flagship passenger ship, and hauling freight is not its job. But twelve optional internals — four of them class 6 — give it more raw module space than most dedicated haulers, so it can be packed with cargo racks: roughly 370 t all-racks, or ~298 t if you keep a bi-weave shield fitted. Unlike a stripped freighter, the Beluga has six utility mounts for a proper booster stack, so it can actually take a hit and boost clear rather than pop.

The problem is everything else. The Beluga's five medium hardpoints take deterrent guns — enough to discourage a pirate, though far short of a warship — so it leans on shields and a slow 280 m/s boost to outlast or outrun trouble. A 950-tonne hull on a class-7 drive jumps only ~20 LY laden even engineered, so routes run in far more hops than a lighter hauler. Add the large pad (no outpost markets) and a ~79.7M Cr price, and the Beluga carries less than a medium Type-8 for more than twice the money. It rates 58: it does the job, but almost every dedicated freighter does it cheaper, bigger, or both.

What the Beluga brings to trading — and what holds it back:

• Roomy holds. Twelve optionals — four class 6 — pack ~370 t of cargo stripped, more than any medium and above the Anaconda, if less than a dedicated freighter.
• Defensible for a hauler. Six utility mounts carry a real Heavy-Duty booster stack over a class-6 bi-weave, so it survives interdictions a bare Type-9 would not.
• No rank gate. Anyone with the credits can buy and fly one — it shares the Anaconda's accessibility.
• Deterrent guns, but short legs. Five medium hardpoints take deterrent multi-cannons to discourage a pirate — light for the hull's size, not a war fit — and ~20 LY laden on a heavy hull makes every route a grind of extra jumps.

Roomy, defensible internals on a large-pad liner that also carries 5 Medium hardpoints for a deterrent gun or two: it hauls ~370 t behind a real shield stack, but a Type-9 more than doubles the hold for a fraction of the price, and a heavy hull on a size-6 FSD keeps laden range short.

The 58/100 headline is a verdict against the trading role's priority-ordered factors. Each factor carries a weight (its share of 100); this hull earns part of each based on how it performs against the whole field. The points sum to the rating.

Every table rates ships for trading specifically, split by landing-pad class. The Max cargo column is maximum cargo tonnage behind a shield; the rating is the same 1–100 suitability verdict used across the site.

Same class — large trading ships

10 large-pad trading hulls carry a rating, led by Panther Clipper Mk II (98). Every same-pad rival lands where this one does — the direct field to shop.

Other classes — the medium haulers

The medium-pad trading field (9 rated), led by Type-8 Transporter (76) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

Other classes — the small-pad haulers

The small-pad trading field (5 rated), led by Cobra Mk IV (52) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

At ~79.7M Cr the Beluga is a major purchase, and a shielded cargo fit brings the all-in figure to around 120M Cr. For that money you could buy and A-rate a Type-9 Heavy — which hauls more than double the cargo — and still have most of the credits left over.

The only honest cost case is reuse: if the Beluga is already in your hangar as a passenger liner, swapping cabins for cargo racks costs little and gives you a defensible freighter for high-value runs. Buying one to trade is hard to justify against a Type-9 or a medium Type-8.

A defensible-hauler fit: the Beluga's vast internals go almost entirely to cargo, kept behind a bi-weave shield, a booster pair and a cell bank, with two medium multi-cannons on its five hardpoints to deter pirates. Initial is buy-only with a shield from day one; A-rated is the trade baseline; Engineered claws back every light-year and MJ a 950 t liner allows.

Buy the hull and fit a basic shield generator from day one — with the deterrent guns still to come, never haul cargo unshielded. The core internals stay stock E-rated at this stage, and the hull's default Lightweight Alloy bulkheads are left as bought — they are already the lightest option and cost nothing.

Fit two class-6 cargo racks to start earning, and leave the rest of the bays empty — the booster stack, the bi-weave, the cell bank and the remaining racks all wait for the A-rated pass.

Guns wait for the A-rated pass — the five medium hardpoints stay empty here to keep the buy-only bill down — so early survival is purely the shield plus submitting and boosting clear of an interdiction.

A-rating priority for the Beluga as a trader:

• 1Frame Shift Drive → 7A — Laden range is the Beluga's worst trait; A-rate the class-7 drive first to make routes bearable. ~30M Cr
• 2Bi-Weave Shield Generator → 6C + two Shield Boosters — The bi-weave regenerates fast under fire; the boosters are the cheapest large gain in survivability on a lightly-armed hull. ~12M Cr
• 3Power plant + distributor → A — Power the shield and cell bank, and A-rate the distributor so the boost that escapes interdictions never sags. ~15M Cr
• 4Fill the internals with cargo racks — Every remaining optional becomes a rack; the class-6 bays each add 64 t. ~10M Cr
• 5Cores → D-rate life support + sensors — The class-8 life support is a huge mass sink; drop it and the sensors to D to buy back laden range. low cost
• 6Shield Cell Bank + point defence — A size-3 cell bank for burst healing and a point-defence turret to swat missiles — the last of the survival kit. modest

The standard defensible-trader pattern: maximise laden range and shield MJ, and keep enough boost to break an interdiction. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Approximate progression across the three states (figures are representative, not exact rolls):

Engineered, the Beluga hauls ~298 t behind a Reinforced bi-weave with a two-booster stack and a cell bank, and boosts to ~330 m/s to break interdictions — genuinely survivable for a freighter. But ~20 LY laden keeps routes slow, it stays large-pad-bound, and its medium guns only deter, never dominate. For defensible high-value runs it works; for moving bulk tonnage cheaply, a Type-9 or Type-8 is the better ship.

• FSD and the shield/booster stack first — the Beluga's medium guns only deter, so it must be able to jump away or tank the hit; cargo comes after survival is paid for.
• Keep a bi-weave fitted at all times — an unshielded liner is free cargo for any pirate, deterrent guns or not.
• Mind the large pad — no outpost landings; plan routes and resupply around stations or a carrier.
• Its real home is the passenger role — it has a dedicated passenger manual; haul in it only if you already own one.